STOP! New Headphones Time! (feedback appreciated)

[Matthew N.]

Helloes,

It's this time again - upgrading headphones. This time my budget is ranging from $150-250, so I guess I will be able to buy decent (*cough* not Denons *cough*) ~studio headphones for that.

Any suggestion on the brand? I was looking into Audio-Technica monitor headphones and they seem to get quite good reviews; especially the 50 series. Did anyone have any HPs from the above brand? If so, how were they?

Anyway, I'd always love to see some other suggestions. Thanks in advance.

[Motivfs]

I couldn't agree more with Kyoga, I use Qc17's from Bose and they are amazing for mixing/mastering, however I've yet to get a lower quality pair of headphones for regular listening.

[Lavender_Harmony]

I would honestly say the Bose QC3's are above price for what you get. Whenever anyone asks about headphones I link them this: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan10/a ... phones.htm

I use Sennheiser 280pro's, and they've a really flat response for the price, and very robust, and comfortable.

[Matthew N.]

Thanks for the replies!

According to the website you posted, Lavender, the Beyerdynamic DT770 DT770PRO are a much better choice than the Sennheisers, and the price difference here in Poland is very minimal (that would translate to about 20 pounds!)

Are they worth it?

As for the Bose's QC3s they seem to not be available; I only found 2 (used) pairs on our e-bay sort-of website, whereas other headphones of the same model amount usually from 50 to 100.

[Lavender_Harmony]

Thanks for the replies!

According to the website you posted, Lavender, the Beyerdynamic DT770 DT770PRO are a much better choice than the Sennheisers, and the price difference here in Poland is very minimal (that would translate to about 20 pounds!)

Are they worth it?

As for the Bose's QC3s they seem to not be available; I only found 2 (used) pairs on our e-bay sort-of website, whereas other headphones of the same model amount usually from 50 to 100.

If you can, if you have a music store, you can see if they have those in stock for you to try. I do like my Senn's but use that article to make up your mind, and know you can probably return them and try the other set if they're not what you need, check that before you buy.

i always found it really hard to get a perfectly flat response on headphones.
I like the Qc3's because you can use them for more than just mixing and mastering.

i was hoping to buy 280's one day... but money... ya know?
(My great uncle gave me the Qc3's - otherwise I couldn't pray to afford them)

That's the problem. You buy headphones for mixing and mastering, for general listening should be a different set, and the 280's have a much flatter response. I got mine for $150ish. (£80) Don't buy headphones for both production and consumer use.

[Motivfs]

I think after reading this thread that might be my next purchase, a listening set of headphones, I've used my Qc17's for everything, and I do like to add low shelf (subtle though at that), so I might need to look into some more standard ones myself.

[Matthew N.]

I was looking at our e-bay as the prices are always about 10% lower than the store ones, but I guess I'll try to locate them in my vicinity (may be a problem, though.)

[the4thImpulse]

Beyer Dynamic is a great name, I have the DT880's which is out of your price range. If you can go to a music store and try out their headphones in person, otherwise read a lot of reviews (I spent weeks before buying mine) on the ones your interested in to get a better understanding of them.

I also second buying on amazon, I bought my headhones there among other things and they were very well priced and shipping was cheap (to Canada).


I am very serious when I say spend a lot of time researching, my friend got some new studio headphones after one day in a store. They were ~$200 good name and everything but he hated them and ended up returning them after a week. Spend a lot of time researching your options and in the mean time get more money.

[Matthew N.]

There is neither amazon nor e-bay in Poland. As I said, we have our own "amazon." / "e-bay."

Anyway, time to search for music stores. Thanks for all the suggestions.

[Matthew N.]

Hmmm, so I've been at my local (literally about 250m away) music store and the owner, who has recently been in Warsaw on a DJ fair, has recommended me monitors from Ultrasone. They are a little bit more than what I decided to spend, but he says they are definitely worth it. Unfortunately he didn't have any of those in his shop so I couldn't take'em and test them, but he could get a set for me and even let me use them in his own studio, as he has 3 of those in the store!

Anybody has any experience with this brand?

[bartekko]

I would honestly say the Bose QC3's are above price for what you get. Whenever anyone asks about headphones I link them this: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan10/a ... phones.htm

I use Sennheiser 280pro's, and they've a really flat response for the price, and very robust, and comfortable.

I have bad experience with my HD280pro's.
First, they didn't have the same frequency response in left and right channel, and I sent them to get them repaired, and they worked for two months well enough.
But last week, a classmate threw them on the floor and now the difference between the left and right speaker is like, 6dB-ish at many ranges.

[the4thImpulse]

Hmmm, so I've been at my local (literally about 250m away) music store and the owner, who has recently been in Warsaw on a DJ fair, has recommended me monitors from Ultrasone. They are a little bit more than what I decided to spend, but he says they are definitely worth it. Unfortunately he didn't have any of those in his shop so I couldn't take'em and test them, but he could get a set for me and even let me use them in his own studio, as he has 3 of those in the store!

Anybody has any experience with this brand?

What model are they?

I have heard good things from Ultrasone in the past but I don't know anyone who uses them currently. I am guessing they are the 750 PRO's in which case they don't have much impedance (40 OHMs), look for something at 250 or 600 OHMs as they will be made for the studio headphones (impedance is the resistance the driver faces when outputting sound, more impedance means it requires more energy and will give you more accuracy). The 40mm drivers also don't stack up well for other headphones in that price range. They sound like DJ headphones imo which will stress various frequecies and have little driver resistance so the DJ can hear them easily over the PA.

[Lavender_Harmony]

I would honestly say the Bose QC3's are above price for what you get. Whenever anyone asks about headphones I link them this: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan10/a ... phones.htm

I use Sennheiser 280pro's, and they've a really flat response for the price, and very robust, and comfortable.

I have bad experience with my HD280pro's.
First, they didn't have the same frequency response in left and right channel, and I sent them to get them repaired, and they worked for two months well enough.
But last week, a classmate threw them on the floor and now the difference between the left and right speaker is like, 6dB-ish at many ranges.

So you got a bad pair, then you let someone abuse them. Ok.

[bartekko]

I would honestly say the Bose QC3's are above price for what you get. Whenever anyone asks about headphones I link them this: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan10/a ... phones.htm

I use Sennheiser 280pro's, and they've a really flat response for the price, and very robust, and comfortable.

I have bad experience with my HD280pro's.
First, they didn't have the same frequency response in left and right channel, and I sent them to get them repaired, and they worked for two months well enough.
But last week, a classmate threw them on the floor and now the difference between the left and right speaker is like, 6dB-ish at many ranges.

So you got a bad pair, then you let someone abuse them. Ok.

I didn't >let< someone abuse them. But there is this one rich kid that don't respect nobody and...
I'll leave my personal issues away from this. I hope I can use the warranty again, this time to get them replaced with a new pair.

[Matthew N.]

What model are they?

I have heard good things from Ultrasone in the past but I don't know anyone who uses them currently. I am guessing they are the 750 PRO's in which case they don't have much impedance (40 OHMs), look for something at 250 or 600 OHMs as they will be made for the studio headphones (impedance is the resistance the driver faces when outputting sound, more impedance means it requires more energy and will give you more accuracy). The 40mm drivers also don't stack up well for other headphones in that price range. They sound like DJ headphones imo which will stress various frequecies and have little driver resistance so the DJ can hear them easily over the PA.

Actually the guy recommended me Pro 550s; 64 Ohms and 50mm membranes. I, however, find it worrying that the freq. range is only 10hz-22khz, while with other brands it's usually 6hz-30+khz [obviously we can't HEAR the difference, but our ears can FEEL it]

EDIT:

I have just found possibly a very, VERY good deal: BEYERDYNAMIC DT 990 PRO for about $150'ish (note: everything is overpriced in Poland.)

According to the specs and reviews, those are very good and should go for much more than that. Opinions?

[ChromaticChaosPony]

http://en-de.sennheiser.com/hd-800

All other headphones in this thread are inferior. These have the flattest possible response.

Now for a record low price of $1499.95!!!

[the4thImpulse]

Actually the guy recommended me Pro 550s; 64 Ohms and 50mm membranes. I, however, find it worrying that the freq. range is only 10hz-22khz, while with other brands it's usually 6hz-30+khz [obviously we can't HEAR the difference, but our ears can FEEL it]

EDIT:

I have just found possibly a very, VERY good deal: BEYERDYNAMIC DT 990 PRO for about $150'ish (note: everything is overpriced in Poland.)

According to the specs and reviews, those are very good and should go for much more than that. Opinions?

I, personally, would pick those Beyers over the 550's any day, that's a great deal.


"obviously we can't HEAR the difference, but our ears can FEEL it"
Let me teach you something here, you are not exactly right when you say that. the average hearing range for humans is 20Hz - 20kHz, I figure you know that already but its good to repeat. All speaker devices; headphones, studio monitors, PA's all have uneven frequency response (no matter how flat they say they are), they also have large roll offs to their reported frequency response's. Example: say the lowest reported frequency is 10Hz, that 10 Hz will be outputed at much lower dB's then say 40Hz due to the roll off, it would look just like a low and high pass filter on a graph. The reason you want such extreme ranges is so that roll off is no where close to audible range, those ranges (specifically the lows) are also much easier to be produced when the driver is less than an inch from your ear.

Your ears also won;t be doing much 'feeling' with headphones, that's something the body does as a whole and headphones simply can't reproduce subsonic bass in that sort of way.

I hope that all makes sense.

[Lavender_Harmony]

I think that's a pretty good deal all told.

[Matthew N.]

Yeah, 4th - thanks for the support; others as well. Yeah, you are right about the speakers being much superior in producing sound waves tuan HPs, however I have very sensitive ears (confirmed by doctors) and the tissues inside. I've been able to 'feel' ridiculously low and high frequencies for long years, which is sometimes very annoying and tiresome.

I really wish I had the right environment for monitors, however living in a flat and having neighbours complaining is just not what I want to have going here.

Once again thank you everyone for suggestions, opinions and helpful information. I think I'll be purchasing the BD 990 Pro, or at least trying them out in very near future.

EDIT: Purchased the BDs. I was able to bargain a price in the store; got them for about 25 bucks less than regular price in Poland.

[bartekko]

Congratulations on your purchase!

Let me just say one, completely redunant thing:
For mixing, you should not only stick to your headphones, no matter how super-awesomely great they are.

The quality of any pair of headphones turns to shit when some kid tosses them on the ground.

Yes, yes it does.

[Matthew N.]

Congratulations on your purchase!

Let me just say one, completely redunant thing:
For mixing, you should not only stick to your headphones, no matter how super-awesomely great they are.

The quality of any pair of headphones turns to shit when some kid tosses them on the ground.

Yes, yes it does.

Thanks.

Yes, I know that. I still have my regular surround 9.1 system (7.1 + 2 more @ the amp), Sennheisers from my previous purchase, beatsaudio headphones that came with my smartphone and my friend's car system to test stuff on, so that is not a problem. I just wanted to have as clear sound as possible in later hours of the day when I usually produce, so that my damn neighbours... you know the story.